Exotic quantum effects can govern the chemistry around us
Objects of the quantum world are of a concealed and cold-blooded nature: they usually behave in a quantum manner only when they are significantly cooled and isolated from the environment. Experiments carried out by chemists and physicists from Warsaw have destroyed this simple picture. It turns out that not only does one of the most interesting quantum effects occur at room temperature and higher, but it plays a dominant role in the course of chemical reactions in solutions!
Under certain conditions appropriately selected particles can form closed surfaces in liquids with surprisingly complex shapes, cutting through space by a regular network of channels. So far, we have looked at cubosomes – for this is what these spectacular three-dimensional nanostructures are called – only from the outside. Advanced theoretical modelling carried out at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw has allowed us to look into their interior for the first time.
Acid or alkali? Perhaps the solution is neutral? Usually, measuring pH is not a problem. However, how can we examine changes in acidity or alkalinity occurring at the nanoscale, for example just at a surface showing the very first signs of pitting corrosion? A novel method of pH measurement at the nanoscale has just been presented by scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.